Erdogan's abrasive style unchecked by Turkish mine tragedy

ISTANBUL May 15 For a man with ambitions to
become Turkey's first popularly-elected president in a few
months' time, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan appears to have done
little to unite the country at a moment of national tragedy.

He was heckled and one of his aides photographed kicking a
protester this week as he visited a mining community where at
least 283 people died and scores remain trapped in the nation's
worst ever mining disaster.

Erdogan expressed regret for the tragedy but told a news
conference in the town that it was the sort of incident that
happened all over the world, donning his glasses to read a list
of mining accidents dating back a century and a half in response
to suggestions that Turkish regulation may have been at fault.

An amateur video clip appeared to show him saying "Come here
and jeer at me!" as he walked through a hostile crowd in the
town, flanked by security guards. His car was later kicked as it
drove away.

Even for a leader whose combative style has increasingly
polarised Turkey in recent years, it might have seemed an
ill-advisedly bellicose performance.

But abrasiveness is Erdogan's stock-in-trade, a style with
which he has over the past year weathered anti-government
protests, a corruption scandal, and a feud with an influential
Islamic preacher he accuses of trying to unseat him.

In the narrow streets of Istanbul's Kasimpasa district,
where Erdogan grew up and commands fervent support, his handling
of the tragedy did little to dent loyalty to a man seen as a
champion of the religiously conservative working classes.

"He's been very blunt and his temperament has got the better
of him," said 29-year old Sinan, a server in a fast-food shop
opposite the local headquarters of Erdogan's ruling AK Party.

"Some of my clients who are staunch supporters regret his
crass style, but they would never say so in public and they
would never vote for someone else... He does not have any
serious political opponents," he said.

Erdogan, who has dominated Turkish politics for more than a
decade, is widely expected to run in the country's first direct
elections for president in August, buoyed by a strong AK Party
showing in municipal polls at the end of March.

Until now, the president has been chosen by parliament and
played a largely ceremonial role. Erdogan has said that the
popular vote will give the post more authority, and has vowed to
exercise its full powers if elected.

"I'm not a man who cries but I cried yesterday," said Talip
Dere, 45, a sports equipment shop owner, of the mine tragedy.

"But all criticisms aside, Erdogan is a strong leader who
delivers, and politicians need to deliver."

UNDER HIS SPELL

In Soma, the mining town, angry residents broke windows at
the local government offices on Wednesday, some chanting
"Erdogan resign", while parts of the crowd lined the street
jeering as the prime minister walked through the town.

There were also protests in Istanbul, Ankara and several
other cities in southern Turkey, most of them organised by
labour unions angered by what they see as crony capitalism and
the private sector's disregard for workers' rights.

A year ago Erdogan came under fire for a heavy-handed
response to a protest against the redevelopment of Istanbul's
Gezi Park, clashes which turned into large-scale demonstrations
unprecedented during his time in office.

The two-week closure of social networking site Twitter and a
block on access to video-sharing platform YouTube as he battled
the corruption scandal earlier this year drew further criticism
at home and abroad of his authoritarian tendencies.

But Erdogan cast both the protests and the corruption probe
as part of a plot to undermine him, a strategy which helped push
his ruling party to a sweeping victory in the March elections.

He has warned "extremists" against exploiting the mine
tragedy and some of his supporters have accused this week's
protesters of trying to smear his government even as miners were
still trapped underground.

"There is a proper time and place for everything and this is
not that," said Aydin, a 42-year old cook at a canteen in
Kasimpasa, whose father and grandfather were coal miners in
Zonguldak, the country's main mining area on the Black Sea.

Turkey's opposition is divided along ideological lines, with
the main Republican People's Party (CHP) seen as the preserve of
a secularist elite and other parties failing to make much of an
impact in more than small patches of the electoral map.

In Kasimpasa, an area where most women cover their hair and
the orange and blue bunting of the Islamist-rooted AK Party
adorns most streets, there is simply no other option.

"People will still vote for Erdogan because it's like being
in love with someone for too long and not noticing how they have
changed for the worse," said Sinan, the restaurant worker,
reflecting on the events of recent days.

"People are under his spell and not seeing his bad sides."
(Editing by Nick Tattersall and Peter Graff)

MOSCOW, Dec 9 Carter Page, previously described
as a foreign-policy adviser to U.S. president-elect Donald
Trump, said the purchase of a stake in Rosneft by
Qatar and Glencore made it clear sanctions hurt Western
companies more than the Russian oil major, RIA news agency
reported on Friday.

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